Mr Andrews, from the party’s Left faction, had to delay naming the new member of cabinet after the dominant right faction, Labor Unity, could not agree on a candidate.

Sources suggest after a weekend of meetings the contest between the two frontrunners, Natalie Hutchins and Wade Noonan, was extremely tight. Party sources said the issue was resolved when Senator Conroy and Mr Shorten, both federal ministers, intervened to back Ms Hutchins. She is expected to be the unanimously endorsed at a meeting on Tuesday.

A planned meeting of the Labor Unity faction had to be aborted after several key players did not show up. That meant that a scheduled full caucus meeting was also cancelled at short notice. The impasse was partyly due to a debate about whether the sub faction backed by the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association (SDA). There were also allegations that some MPs were offering to sell their votes to rival camps in order to progress their claim to cabinet spots in the future.

The situation was not resolved before Mr Andrews addressed a press conference. He had previously said a meeting on Monday would resolve the issue. He said it was a good sign the opposition had a surfeit of talented people who wanted the position.

“There are perhaps more people interested in playing a role than there are spots available at this point in time," he said.

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Mr Andrews said he expected one candidate would be presented to Tuesday’s caucus meeting.

“I will be only to happy to announce that person and introduce them to you tomorrow," he said.

Mr Andrews, who has performed strongly in publicly published polling, said he would also unveil his new-look cabinet on Tuesday but would keep changes to a minimum.

“I have deferred until caucus meeting tomorrow, our normal caucus meeting on a [parliamentary] sitting Tuesday, the selection of a new shadow minister," he said.

“There are a number of people who have expressed an interest in coming onto the frontbench and unlike the government we do have a large number of very competent people, very talented, who are keen and eager to serve this state."